1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process when an arbitrary client having a driver corresponding to a device connected to a network environment has moved from a network environment managed by one management server to another network environment managed by another management server and, more particularly, to a process of causing the client to select an appropriate default printer in the connected network environment by performing anycast or unicast to a management server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a print system in an environment where, for example, mobile computing is performed while changing the place of task as needed installs a plurality of drivers in each client and implements printing using a printing device installed in a current position. It is also necessary to change the default printer of the plurality of printer drivers in correspondence with the place of use.
The following methods of changing the default printer have been proposed so far.
(1) A user consciously changes the default printer.
(2) Some notebook PCs save the settings themselves of a network environment and, when connected to a network, implement network settings suitable for the environment.
(3) During printer setup, the network ID of a work area connected to a PC is stored. At the time of a print request, the network ID of a work area connected to the PC is detected. The network ID of the work area connected to the PC, which is saved during setup of a printer selected as an output destination, is compared with the network ID of the work area currently connected to the PC. If the network IDs are different, a warning message is displayed and a list of printers set up using the network ID that matches the current network ID is displayed. A print process is implemented by selecting an arbitrary printer.
(4) A client detects a deletion request that requests deletion of a printer driver. If the printer driver to be deleted is set as a printer driver to be used normally, the user is prompted to set another printer driver different from the deletion request target as the printer driver to be used normally (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-287764).
In the above-described prior art (1), the user manually changes the default printer. If he/she forgets to make the change, a printing device installed in an inappropriate place may execute printing.
In prior art (2), the network settings are changed, although the default settings of the printer driver cannot be changed. Alternatively, since only a printer driver suitable for a certain environment exists, a new printer driver must be installed to execute printing upon moving from an area A to an area B.
In prior art (3), the PC complies with only the network environment corresponding to the network ID stored in advance. Assume that network IDs A and B are saved. If the PC is connected to a network whose network ID is C, it has no corresponding printer driver. It is therefore necessary to separately install the printer driver. In this case, the user must manually install the printer driver.
As described above, the prior art especially has the problems of usability, an increase of management cost, and an increase of TCO caused by low task efficiency.